Bloodline (Supernatural)

Epilogue

I feel like a new girl all over again, when I make my official return to school. Things feel new, though they aren't really. I know Marley is around somewhere in the halls, maybe with Jacob. I won't have banter with Cole in the halls, pretending like we hate one another while we cover up our budding romance.

It feels like I'm in some weird alternate reality.

I hope Crowley keeps his end of the deal. I want no trouble, and neither do Sam and Dean.

Those who recognize me ask mundane questions, some ask wild ones. The rumor mill has been pretty wild. I've apparently been abducted. Or I was tired of my life and decided to start over somewhere else. Or that Cole and I said fuck the world and decided to start a life together without a high school education and absolutely no finances to live off of.

Those who do pry into my absence, I brush off. Now is far from the time to give in to peer pressure. I just want to get back on a schedule. While I know things won't be exactly the same, I'm going to try and grasp what normalcy I can.

"Hey, Wills." A quiet arm loops through mine, and a somber Marley is at my side. Not the reaction I'm expecting after I've been gone for so long. Then I think back to her experience at Homecoming. "Glad you're back."

"So am I."

"Lots of people made conspiracy theories about you."

"It wouldn't be high school without them."

"Some people actually worried about you here. They were trying to get the school to do something."

"Oh, wow, I was almost a celebrity." A dry laugh comes out.

Marley hugs me tight around the arm. "You're here to stay this time, right? No more adventures?"

"No more adventures."

"I'm sorry about Cole."

"What do you mean?"

"They've declared him dead."

I exhale. "He didn't deserve what happened. Neither did you. No one at Homecoming did."

"It'll certainly be infamous in the school's history. Can we not talk about that anymore? Let's just...go through the day. Go through the struggles of puberty and high school."

"I'd like that. Hey, Mar?"

"Yeah?"

"I met my dad. I found him."

"Really?" There's a little more life in her voice. "Is that why you just up and left town?"

"Er, not quite. It just...happened."

"Was he everything you imagined?"

"Truthfully, Marley, I don't think I had a certain image for him."

Marley pulls me close to avoid knocking shoulders with traffic moving the other way. Warning bells ring overhead. "Do you think he's going to be in the picture, now?"

"Hard to say."

"If he is, I hope to meet him one day."

I hope to see him again, too. And Dean. I don't want to get overly optimistic and say that Sam and Mom should rekindle their brief stint and try for the long haul or anything, but I don't completely rule it out.

Weirder things have happened, after all.